Australian Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is notably lower on Friday, extending the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 7,200 level, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, with weakness across most sectors, led by technology, financial and gold miner stocks, as rising concerns about global economic growth due to surging interest rates dented sentiment.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 36.50 points or 0.51 percent to 7,168.30, after hitting a low of 7,117.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 36.60 points or 0.50 percent to 7,353.70. Australian markets ended significantly lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Fortescue Metals are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Rio Tinto is adding almost 2 percent, Mineral Resources is edging up 0.4 percent and OZ Minerals is edging down 0.3 percent.

Oil stocks are weak. Santos is edging down 0.4 percent, Beach energy is losing almost 1 percent and Origin Energy is declining more than 1 percent, while Woodside Energy is edging up 0.1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block and Appen are slipping almost 5 percent each, while Zip is down almost 2 percent, Xero is declining more than 2 percent and WiseTech Global is losing almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are losing more than 1 percent each, while Westpac is declining almost 1 percent. Gold miners are lower. Northern Star Resources, Gold Road Resources, Evolution Mining and Newcrest Mining are all losing more than 2 percent each, while Resolute Mining is adding almost 3 percent.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to expand in December, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Friday with a manufacturing PMI score of 50.4. That's down from 51.3 in November, although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The survey also showed that the services PMI fell to 46.9 from 47.6 and the composite PMI sank to 47.3 from 48.0.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.670 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower during trading on Thursday, extending the pullback seen over the course of the previous session. With the sell-off on the day, the major averages slumped to their lowest closing levels in over a month.

The major averages climbed off their lows of the session in late-day trading but remained firmly negative. The Dow tumbled 764.13 points or 2.3 percent to 33,202.22, the Nasdaq plunged 360.36 points or 3.2 percent to 10,810.53 and the S&P 500 dove 99.57 points or 2.5 percent to 3,895.75.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.9 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index plunged by 3.1 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Thursday as concerns about easing supply following a partial restart of the Keystone Pipeline. The dollar's rise on hawkish comments by the Federal Reserve weighed as well on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended lower by $1.17 or 1.5 percent at $76.11 a barrel.